


Friends from the Forest Floor

by animangod



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spirits, Elemental Magic, Fern Gully inspiration was also involved, Forests, Gen, Hitching a ride when you are small, Inspired by Fanart, M/M, Nature, Nature Magic, Shrinking, Temporary Nudity, Water
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:40:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22081213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animangod/pseuds/animangod
Summary: In a mash up on inspiration based on parareve's art and Fern Gully, gave rise to this fic.Kurogane is a nature spirit and Fai is a human. After being shrunk down, Kurogane takes on the challenge of finding Fai the help he needs to return to normal.
Relationships: Fay D. Fluorite & Kurogane, Fay D. Fluorite/Kurogane, Kurogane's Father/Kurogane's Mother
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [parareve](https://archiveofourown.org/users/parareve/gifts).



Fai wandered through the forest, following the sound of water, before hearing an unusual melody. Curiously, he listened for both before finding a waterfall. Near the base, it calmed into a tranquil pool before flowing downhill at a leisurely pace. Fai stared into the calm pool and his gaze settled on what looked like a glowing orb, moving about just along the surface of the water. That ethereal melody he heard earlier seemed to be coming from the glowing orb.

Fai watched as it moved about, almost like dancing, atop the waters, tiny ripples appearing. Removing his ribbon, he let his hair down before cupping some of the water and splashing it onto his face. The water was cool and refreshing and when he looked again, the glowing orb was still there, and he felt assured it was not just his imagination. It moved closer to the falling water with the rippling of the water and the melody paused. Curious about what it was, he decided to pick it up.

* * *

As a nature spirit, Kurogane moved with a slow rhythm, his toes just barely touching the waters, monitoring the health and wellbeing of the nearby ecosystem, humming as his magic flowed as easily as the water around him. He noticed there was an adult human nearby but feeling safe the human was unable to see him, he continued his business, checking to see where he needed to help the environment.

Even after he watched the human disturb the water, it was simply a mild inconvenience and with a healthy grumble, he decided to move closer to the falling water to continue just in case.

He didn't anticipate as he moved closer to the waterfall, the human would make scooping motions at him. Kurogane dodged the first swipe, just as he would if a wild cat decided to bat at him, but the human continued making scooping motions, trying to corral him between his hands. Kurogane could only move so fast without sinking into the waters - and that would definitely make him easier to catch - so he kept moving away from the human's hands, waiting to see if as a last resort, he had to resort to using magic. Magic used in an emergency was risky because instead of the one who used it, the magic acted how it felt would resolve the situation. Sometimes it worked out and other times, it made the situation worse.

* * *

Fai fumbled about as the glowing orb slipped away like a fish trying to wiggle away from a fisherman. He was so focused on grabbing it that once he was successful, holding it in his hands, he didn't catch on immediately to the strange sensation running through him, until it was too late to back away from it.

It wasn't what Fai anticipated would happen. Maybe the glowing thing would bite or continue trying to get away. Him suddenly shrinking to one tenth his height was nowhere on his list, but that's exactly what happened, causing the glowing orb to fall out of his hands and into the water as he fell in as well.

When he shrunk, his clothes did not, and Fai became caught in layers of wet fabric pulling him down further into the water.

Like a cat who fell into a fishtank, he let out a startled gasp before he struggled to climb out of the water. Getting out of the drenched fabrics became his first priority as they weighed him down. The water slightly stung as he looked about for how to get out, flailing his legs and pulling on the shirt until he found his way to the collar.

He felt a warm hand tugging on his arm, pulling him away from the heavy fabrics. Without knowing anything else about the help, he followed along, and after several strenuous moments of trying not to breathe anymore of the water, Fai let out a gasp as his head emerged above the water.

Looking around, he saw his help making their way towards the edge of the pool. From the back, all he could see was this person was about the same size he was now. Which meant his help was probably not a human. Or if they were, a really tiny, shrunken human, just like he was now.

Taking a hint, he moved to follow the other, and now that he wasn't trapped under the clothes, he swam over to them and used them to climb out of the water.

The one who helped him offered a hand again, standing on the rim of the waterfall's pool.

Fai graciously accepted it and sat down on the rim, now that he was safe for the time being.

"You gonna be okay?" The words came out easily, a touch of concern for Fai's wellbeing lodged into them.

"I… I think so. Not really sure what just happened, but I'm glad you were there."

"Been here the whole time." A small huff escaped, "Name's Kurogane."

Fai looked over to Kurogane. He stood barefoot, dressed in a kasaya-styled robe, and wet as he was, his hair clung to his skin, framing his tanned face, neck and collar bones. Those warm, kind eyes spoke of knowing much sorrow and still looking for the good in all things.

"Wait - so you are that cute glowing thing I saw?"

Kurogane raised a brow in surprise and confusion at that. "Wait, you mean you really saw me earlier? Grown humans aren't supposed to be able to see us."

Fai looked at him with equal confusion, tilting his head to the side. "Why not? Why else would I have kept trying to pick you up?"

"That is… I thought only the young humans could see us and that's why the grown humans tell the young humans it's just their… imagi… imarin… uhm..."

"Their imagination?"

"That's the word," Kurogane affirmed.

Fai smiled some, "Some of us never give up that piece of ourselves."

Kurogane seemed to consider that, before turning towards the clothes and tugging on them.

"What are you doing now?" Fai asked, getting off of them.

"Looking for some clothes for you. You'll catch a cold dressed like that." Dressed being a polite term, as Fai currently had only his long hair to cover up with, and it only hid his ears and shoulders.

"Well I don't think those'll fit me as long as I'm  _ this _ size."

Kurogane didn't comment at that, instead he let out tiny grunts as he tugged as hard as he could to pull the drenched clothes out of the water. 

With nothing but his seat to lose, Fai joined the efforts and helped Kurogane, grasping handfuls of fabric and tugging. It might sound less impressive were they both not as tall as fly agaric mushrooms, neither one of them above eight inches. 

With one final heave, the clothes were finally freed and out of the water. Fai sat on the edge again to regather his breath and strength while Kurogane shuffled about, knocking beads of water with his feet and looking for any scrap of fibers or cloth that could be fashioned into clothes for Fai's current stature.

"So I guess you can't just change me back to normal?" Fai asked.

"If I knew how, woulda done it and been gone already. Change magic like that isn't something most of us have any direct control over. Instead, we'll have to get you to an elder to see about what help is available if you wanna get back to your normal size."

"I see." He let out a hum brushing off a few grains of damp sand as he supposed it would be a while before that happened, and part of him wondered why Kurogane was being so willing to help. Optimistically, he hoped it was because the spirit simply cared about all lives, and well, they were both partially responsible for his current circumstances.

"Well, if I have to wait to return to normal, at least my current company seems quite kind and reliable," Fai smiled at him.

A hint of a blush ran through the spirit's face before he went back to shuffling through fabric layers and digging through pockets for anything useful. The ribbon Fai had used to tie his hair back and a loose string became the lucky winners of Kurogane's efforts.

Fai watched in awe as the ribbon and string were transformed before his eyes into a robe much like the one Kurogane wore.

"Crafting clothes ain't my best skill so this is the best I can do for you."

"It's better than I would have done, so I thank you."

Kurogane nodded curtly, before handing them over. He then stepped off to the side to give Fai the semblance of some privacy. "When you're ready, we can take off."

Fai tried to dry off a little, brushing his hands across his skin and dripping onto the earth before getting dressed in his freshly made robe. Tying the sash, the knot fell in front of his hips. 

"How do I look?" He asked, prompting Kurogane to turn back towards him. He held up his arms and swirled some so Kurogane could see how well it fit him.

"Decent," he acknowledged, "Not sure that's how most humans would wear that tho."

"Would you mind helping then?" Fai prompted.

Kurogane let out a breath before stepping closer, and pulled the sash off with a gentle tug. Shifting the layers softly, he stepped behind him and wrapped the sash around Fai's stomach twice before making a neat bow in the back, resembling a butterfly*.

He had seen humans do the same thing before for both young and grown, and with his limited knowledge of humans, was the only way he knew how to tie the sash.

With the bow done, he stepped back to inspect his work, "that's not too tight, right?"

"If it was, I would have said so," Fai assured. "Thanks for the help."

Kurogane nodded a little, "was no big deal."

"Right.. So, where are we going?"

"Follow me. I'll show you the way."

Kurogane began to walk away from the waterfall, and trusting the spirit, Fai followed alongside him. 

* * *

Authour's Notes:

"One tenth his size" "as tall as fly agaric mushrooms" "neither one above eight inches"

Assuming Fai was 6 foot tall originally, that would make him 7.2 inches (approximately the space between thumb tip to pinky tip when making a rock on/bull horns/ASL letter Y hand signal) However tall as you imagine Fai, in his shrunken form, Kurogane is currently half an inch taller than him.

Fly agaric mushrooms, also called red capped mushrooms or toadstools, range between two and eight inches.

"...making a neat bow in the back, resembling a butterfly"

This style of obi tying is called chōchō musubi, a type of bunko musubi. It is very common to use this style with ready-made hanhaba "half-width" obis. Hanhaba are generally a casual, everyday type of obi.


	2. Chapter 2

As they walked, Fai watched as beetles wandered nearby, some with shiny green backs and others had an iridescence to them. There were even giant beetles with long pinchers that climbed up trees.

He marveled at a spider web that shone golden in the sunlight. Kurogane briefly looked around for the web’s owner and seeing that it was currently vacant, continued to move on, careful not to touch any of the spun web.

“What kind of spider lives there?” Fai asked.

“Joro. Don’t mess with their home if you value your life.”

“Are they a spirit?”

“Not this one. However, Queen Joro is a spirit and has eaten several adult humans.”

Fai looked at Kurogane with some alarm, “Just how big is she?”

“It’s not the size that matters so much. It’s your value."

"Value?" Fai asked confused.

"Mm - for example, she has taken eyes before as payment for her help, but do you value your sight? If it is something you could throw away without a single thought, it is not valuable, and she will refuse to accept it as payment. That is how she is. It must be yours to give away and it must be valuable." Kurogane paused, "Then again, she eats those who fall into her traps regardless of their value and places curses on those who destroy her home or hold no value of the natural world. That is also who she is."

"How scary," Fai commented, although there was no fear in his voice.

Kurogane looked over at him, his brow furrowing with a question unasked before continuing on.

Dormice chittered as they gathered materials to line their nests and store food while black butterflies stopped atop flowers before fluttering up and towards a new meal. Fuzzy bees buzzed, spreading pollen. Moths that were as colorful and flew like hummingbirds came and went. Round, brown bugs nibbled off the vegetation. A brightly colored caterpillar crawled slowly about.

When Fai saw it, he reached out to pet it, when Kurogane grabbed his wrist, “Don’t. You’ll get hurt.”

“But it looks so soft,” Fai said, looking at the caterpillar as it made its way towards a tree.

“Yeah, it probably is. But if you touch it, you’ll feel like you got slapped.”

“Have you tried to pet them before?” Fai asked inquisitively.

“...once.”

Fai took his word and merely watched it as it moved before continuing to walk with him.

A hare nibbled briefly before tuckering down. As they got closer, it lifted its ears before darting off. The forest floor was teeming with different life. However, it was slow progress, and they had yet to see another spirit.

"How much farther?” Fai asked eventually. While the view was lovely and all, his feet were sore from walking barefoot.

“You tired?” Kurogane asked, looking over towards Fai.

“A bit,” he admitted.

“Okay. Let’s stop here. Rest up,” Kurogane encouraged. 

Fai moved to sit on the root of a tree sticking out of the ground, giving his legs and feet a break. The bark was smooth on the roots and there was a gentle breeze around him.“Do you normally travel this long on foot?”

“No." Kurogane moved to sit on the ground, and found a fallen pine needle. He snapped it in half to nibble on the snapped end. "But it is..." The pine needle made crunchy noises as he ate it before continuing, "it's thoughtless to travel in a way you cannot."

"We can travel other ways, too."

"Like what ways?" He asked, genuinely curious.

"Well there's …" He realized most of the ways he knew about wouldn't work so well out in the forest. Vehicles were currently out of the question. He had no idea how to build a functional bike. They weren't near enough water to justify building a boat. Beyond man made tools to travel, there weren't too many ways one found in nature.

"There's riding," he finally said. "Like on the back of an animal."

"Ah," Kurogane seemed interested by that. He was quiet while eating the pine needle. "Okay then… wait here. Rest. I'll find us a ride."

Fai had no problem waiting, it meant he could take it easy for a little while. “I’ll be here.”

With a nod, Kurogane climbed the tree with a certain ease that made it look like he was just walking up steps on a rope ladder. An invisible rope ladder. Fai watched him climb, curious just how he managed to do it, because it didn’t look like he was actually touching the tree at all, just very close to it. It hardly took any time for him to be halfway up the tree and hop up onto a branch.

Fai relaxed, leaning back on his arms as he kept an eye on his surroundings, watching the way the wind made the grasses sway and how the mushrooms looked like they were breathing. He was so focused on the surroundings around him, he forgot to pay attention to the ones above him.

Fai let out a yelp as he fell off his seat when a bird twice his size landed right by his feet. The kite bird had a rusty red chest and black beak, perfectly made for tearing and eating meat.

Kurogane extended a hand out as he sat perched on the bird's back, legs tucked close beneath her wings. "Come along."

"He won't try and eat me, right?" Fai asked, looking up from behind the tree root.

" _ She _ might if you keep laying there like a grub in a log."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." Fai climbed over the root and walked over to Kurogane and the bird. He reached put for Kurogane's hand, and Kurogane helped pull him up onto her back with him.

"Tuck your legs in, keep your head low, and hang on to me."

"Have you done this before?" Fai asked, moving his arms to hug Kurogane's torso.

He nodded. "Yes - been a while since I rode any bird bareback tho."

"How else would  _ you _ ride?" Fai asked curiously.

"With reigns of course."

She spent a moment swiveling her head, looking around and grooming her feathers with her beak, before she flapped her wings and with her two passengers, she took to the air, tucking her legs in towards her body.

The air was cold against his exposed arms and traveled into his sleeves, chilling him, but he clung tightly to Kurogane and lightly squeezed his legs against the kite's sides. He was glad he had had plenty of time to dry from his watery plunge otherwise it'd be colder.

Outside the forest canopy, the kite flew towards an updraft, raising higher and higher into the sky, before coming out and gently gliding.

"You wanna look below?" Kurogane murmured.

Peeking around Kurogane's shoulder and past the wing of the kite, Fai stared with awe as he got a bird's eye view of the landscape. Birch, maple, spruce and fir dominated the tree landscape while human and animals made trails, golden clearings, ruddy brown dirt, blue and green and white waters showed more signs of life flourishing. Below smaller birds flapped and glided, following a current invisible to him, some settling back among the trees or diving for a meal.

Hillsides rose and fell as though made with the breath of the ocean's tides and a mountain range rose up high and into the clouds. From the distance, they looked almost all white and blue and purple. Fai was positive he would never forget the view sitting on the kite's back, not as long as he lived.

"It's really beautiful," Fai commented softly.

"It is," Kurogane agreed.


End file.
